Fans of Disney’s “Peter Pan” can now update their movie collection with the new Diamond Edition on shelves now for a limited time. Disney is celebrating the classic movie’s 60th anniversary with the release, which includes three discs (Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Copy, plus a Storybook App). The Diamond Edition also features the short film “Growing Up With Nine Old Men,” never-before-seen deleted scenes and a never-before-heard song.

We were excited to get the chance to speak with Paul Collins, who voiced John Darling. The upbeat New York resident with an endearing sense of humor continues to entertain audiences today.

How does it feel to be part of such an iconic movie that’s just as influential today as it was 60 years ago when it first came out?Well, it's extraordinary; it actually makes me feel very proud. … It’s wonderful. My daughter was raised on it, and I actually did a one-character play about J.M. Barrie [the author of “Peter Pan”] called “Courage” off-Broadway. J.M. Barrie has been a big influence on my life.

I don’t know if you follow Facebook, but we saw that Peter Pan has 2.3 million fans. How does it feel to know the movie has such a huge fan base 60 years later?All I know is I get asked to sign things a lot from “Peter Pan.” I had no idea it was 2.3 million; I don’t follow Facebook, but I did buy some stock recently in it. But no, I had no idea it was that popular. It’s wonderful … it’s like a fairy tale for the ages.

Have you ever been to South Florida?It’s gorgeous. We went there last year for the first time in the winter. I have a camper that fits in the back of my pickup truck, and we went down and we camped all through Florida. … My favorite was the Everglades, and of course the Everglades in the winter without the mosquitoes is a lot better. … I think South Florida is fabulous.

Did you stay in contact with any of the cast?No, actually a lot of them died. It was 1953. But Kathryn Beaumont and I, who played Wendy, my sister, we had not seen each other until there was a release about five years ago. … Margaret [Kerry] has been very nice; she played Tinker Bell, and we got together and spent some time together and had lunch. But prior to that, no; from ’53 until I guess about five years ago, nobody had been in contact. … Hopefully I’ll get to see them again this time. Everybody was just so wonderful to work with. Bobby Driscoll, Peter, was excellent to deal with. We had to go to school … for about four hours in the schoolroom, and the rest of the time we were working. We went to school on the set. I think I discovered Shakespeare’s sonnets at that time.

Did you meet Walt Disney?Yes, I did. I actually met him twice. He came into the recording room when we first started and wished everybody well and talked. And he had a party for kids while the film was being shot, and I was invited to that. And that was very nice because we got to talk a little more. He wanted to know how things were going, and we got to chat a little bit. And I really at 15 was fairly unknowledgeable and didn’t realize this is Walt Disney, the person who made animation into an art form. It was a really pleasant conversation.

What was your most memorable moment from filming?When we did ‘Peter Pan’ … they didn’t have computer animation then, which moves the movements along automatically and smoothly, we actually recorded it on tape, on voice. And then we went into the studio after we got it all together and all done, we went into the studio in costume, and we acted out, lip-synching to our own recorded voices. And doing things like fly — we were on a board that you could move around. And then we did sword fighting — all the stuff that was going to require movement to be drawn in accurately, and the animators could go frame by frame so the movement was smooth and not jerky. So we actually got to act out a lot of it, and that was great fun.

Did anyone inspire you in your interpretation of John Darling’s voice?I’ve been acting since I was 5. I did my first movie when I was 5 in England. And I lived in England until I was 10 when my parents and I all moved to the United States in 1947, and so I had been doing some acting, and really, I just felt John was very close to me. I wore my glasses, and of course they gave me the top hat. But I was just kind of being myself because that’s how I was raised in England. … And also, having been English, I was quite polite at that time; I lost that later.

Did being part of the movie help keep you young at heart as you grew up?It was certainly always something to contact, and yes, I think that’s right. That’s a very interesting question. I think so. I was 24 playing on Broadway … playing the part of a 17-year-old, and so it certainly kept me feeling young.

You’ve done it all — movies, TV, theater. What is your favorite acting outlet?I love to act, and I actually prefer acting in film or on stage, rather than television. Stage is great because you get to rehearse for a month and become a part of a company. And with a film, also that happens. So you have your little families … for a while.